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A good luck message ahead of 150th Open at St Andrews
On behalf of everyone at TEC, we wanted to say good luck to all those working at, reporting on and competing in The 150th Open at St Andrews.
These people will all be part of sporting history; their actions behind the scenes, behind a camera and behind a putt will shape the memories that people take away from the next few days at the home of golf. With record crowds expected on the course, following 1.3m ticket applications via the ballot, and millions more watching around the world, they are the team responsible for the way in which fans experience this major milestone for The Open.
TEC is proud to be part of this team.
We will have two people on site, supported by a further 19 back at our headquarters in Cluj, working on the event remotely. Our on-site team will work side by side with The R&A’s digital technology and content teams helping to manage the website’s performance and analytics during the tournament and oversee client side testing and verification of remote developments. They will also support with the streaming service, testing the domestic experience while the team back in Cluj tests the international version.
In addition to support with video and audio streams, the team back at TEC HQ plays a critical role in managing and maintaining the digital experience fans get through the website and, in particular, through the live scoring platform that TEC created for The R&A, and which takes the data feed from SMT and publishes scores and leaderboard changes in real time. They also oversaw the development of the bespoke scoring platform which was built by TEC as part of the new digital presence for the special Celebration of Champions competition which took place on Monday 11th July.
TEC’s HQ team is also a key part of how the media cover the event, with the Virtual Media Centre that TEC built for The R&A used to provide journalists and photographers with the latest content from across the course.
The close relationship we have built with The R&A over the past five years, supporting the development of their digital presence and helping to manage the digital experience at events, will stand us in good stead as we approach the climax of this momentous week. We are proud to be part of the event team and to work alongside so many hardworking and talented people, who are all committed to making sure fans have the best experience possible.
St Andrews, the world is watching…and we’re proud to help them do so.
For more information on the TEC: Agency and how we can meet your digital challenge, please contact us at hello@tecss.com.
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Racing through The 149th Open
A sneak peek into a 4-day event that takes a year’s worth of work
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TEC: Agency renew digital partnership with The R&A
TEC: Agency are delighted to announce the renewal of their partnership with The R&A which sees the live sports and events technology specialists provide digital support for TheOpen.com for the fourth consecutive year, teeing off this year on 15th July at Royal St Georges.
As the oldest and most prestigious of Golf’s Majors, The Open attracts huge global interest with the event’s website, custom built by TEC: Agency, serving more than 7m unique visitors during the last playing of the Championship at Royal Portrush in 2019. The website also handled more than 2bn leaderboard requests across the four days.
TEC: Agency were first contracted by The R&A in 2018 to build a new scoring and statistics engine for use on TheOpen.com and The Open app. The collaboration worked so well that TEC: Agency’s remit was expanded, and they now oversee the ongoing management and maintenance of the entire website, and all supporting technical infrastructure, including the content delivery network and streaming management.
Commenting on the collaboration with TEC: Agency, Karen Lyttle, Head of Digital Technology at The R&A said:
“We are thrilled to continue this partnership as we know we’re in safe hands with TEC: Agency! The digital experience of this historic Championship is an increasingly important aspect of how we serve millions of fans around the world. Through our ongoing and innovative collaboration, TEC have not only helped us deliver best in class digital ticketing and scoring platforms, they have helped ensure our digital presence is robust enough to cope with the huge demand the tournament generates”.
TEC Agency Consulting Partner, Kevin Bain added:
“The collaboration between TEC: Agency and The R&A continues to go from strength to strength and we are looking forward to working with all the team at this year’s Open to ensure fans receive the best digital experience”
Headquartered in the city of Cluj-Napoca, in northwest Romania, TEC: Agency are experts in the provision of bespoke digital services for the live sports and events industry, combining data, technology, engineering and innovation to deliver world-class solutions for their customers. In addition to The R&A, where they have successfully supported both The Open and the AIG Women’s Open, recent projects include creating a new data architecture for GBI Racing, the joint venture between Britain’s two premier horse racing channels and building a ticketing platform for Untold, one of the largest dance music festivals in Europe, with over 400,000 visitors every year.
For more information on the TEC: Agency and how we can meet your digital challenge, please contact us at hello@tecss.com.
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The digital drive up Magnolia Lane
Back in 2009 I attended the European Tour’s Wales Open and had the idea of tweeting from around the course. It was not only an introduction to the untapped potential of a then-new tool, but it is also a vivid reminder of the extent to which the golf fan experience has been transformed over the last decade.
It was not so much that I could tweet photos, updates and anecdotes in real-time. It was the truth that this placed my information as much as an hour ahead of the leaderboard and half a day (minimum) in front of the infrequently-updated website. In fact, well into 2011 myself and a colleague remained rarities, some argued oddities, posting images and stories from beyond the narrow focus of the TV camera’s lens.
If it took the European Tour some time to be alerted to the creative possibilities of digital, when it did catch on, however, it did so in style, establishing a prize-winning digital platform the envy of other sporting organisations, not least the PGA Tour which continues its attempts to emulate its rival’s light-hearted yet insightful content (learning, instead, that there’s a fine line between engaging content and awkward PR stunts).
The manifest curiosity of golf is that a huge chasm has always existed between the experience of the fan on the course and the viewer at home.
The former gets to appreciate the conditions and stand in close proximity to their heroes, but has very limited scope – they must choose between walking the course or sitting in one spot. Either option compromises the chance of seeing much in the way of actual action.
The TV viewer will witness many more relevant shots, but is also reliant on the decisions of the production team (and, as anguished and angry tweets reveal, these choices are often unpopular).
The real truth, however, has always been that neither option gets remotely close to capturing the entirety of any golf tournament, never mind a major championship. At the 2019 Open, for example, how many shots do you think the field played? The answer is 33,056 so neither the fan or the sofa-dweller is doing much more than scratching the surface of the action.
And within that bizarre distinction (no other sport is so multi-narrative in nature) golf always possessed a huge opportunity in the digital world.
A standard field is 156 players or, in other words, 156 stories.
That’s before we even consider the past (historical archives), the present (what happened in today’s round) and the future (what will happen tomorrow?).
There is also the course itself because, unlike other sports, there are 18 unique stages which will be impacted each day by a new pin position, changed yardage and different weather conditions.
It’s a bewildering prospect. Or a thrilling opportunity. Take your pick.
It also rather neatly explains why, at the 2019 Open in Royal Portrush, TEC had to deliver a technical service robust enough to cope with over 2 billion leaderboard requests.
Which brings us to Augusta National, home of the Masters, a club with a reputation for having its feet stuck in the mud when it comes to progress – and yet which has, in actual fact, embraced the digital revolution.
The ability to follow a particular player is a good example of how Augusta goes about its business. Up-to-date leaderboards are now, naturally, a given for any event, but the Masters retains a certain wilful awkwardness that has a canny intention.
The introduction of a single sign-on allows fans to favourite players on one device and have that information persist on any other devices they log into.
Because just as the television coverage is not all-encompassing – the club famously limits the morning action, keeping fans on tenterhooks or reminding them of their place (according to your viewpoint) – the modern Strokes Gained data is not available at the Masters.
In contrast, the track facility allows users to immediately pinpoint the location of any golfer and then follow him – every single shot graphically realised – throughout his entire circuit. Or simply watch it: the app and the website allow every shot of every round to be viewed (even when television coverage has yet to start).
It’s confining with one hand and providing an unprecedented feature with the other. Classic Masters.
Their approach to detail is also telling. Live television coverage is expected these days, but at Augusta it purposefully features famous stretches of the course thereby further fuelling its own mythology.
Slightly differently, a simple camera set-up at the driving range neatly combines those two spectator experiences: the sense of being on the property with the notion that you’ve got the best seat in the house (they even add shot-tracer).
Want to take the Augusta-at-home element one step further? There’s a ‘Taste of the Masters’ package that includes the famous paper cups and legendary pimento cheese filling. Some would argue gimmick, others catnip.
The tournament also introduced a Fantasy game this year which came with another telling fine point: players can be favourited across web, mobile and iPad. The sort of detail that provides delight way beyond its literal simplicity.
It might be that the Masters digital experience is best revealed in microcosm through Instagram stories.
Take Wednesday, the final practice day, an opportunity to prompt likes, shares and discussion, but to do it Masters-style, fanning the flames of its folklore.
It featured unusual angles of the property (ones unseen by traditional TV positions), a drawing of a plant (pure Augusta), zoomed-in range photos (to pique the interest of obsessives), a clubhouse beer tap (normally off limits), hats in the merchandise tent (straightforward I-want-to-be-there), a Masters sandwich (tradition), a Masters gnome (unexpected), a link to a story (an EA Sports tie-in), footage from the course (neatly termed ‘Patrons POV’), Xander Schauffele discussing the undulations of the course (followed by photos and graphics to astutely illustrate them), and images of past champions (iconic).
The American TV announcer Jim Nantz coined the phrase “a tradition like no other” for the tournament and Augusta National liked it so much they bought the trademark.
Like so much of what the club does, it’s a phrase that is easy to mock because the traditions don’t extent too far back in history. But even knowing all of this, the rest of the golf community happily wallows in it and the digital experience has become an integral part of feeding the hunger. It achieves exclusivity while permitting access. It limits as well as includes. It speaks of the old while being very new.
Harvey Jamison, a Creative Producer working with IMG Golf and previously Digital Content Editor at the European Tour, notes a smart less-is-more approach:
“It’s stripped back and pristine much like the championship itself.
Following the tournament’s social media channels is like being handed an access all areas pass – behind the scenes at the Champions Dinner, touring the Crow’s Nest, getting up-close with the world’s best golfers. It’s like having Augusta National in your pocket.
“When scrolling through your social media feed, a post from their channels is a disruption. It’s impactful. They use no emojis, only share one hashtag, and always stay on brand. Through video, imagery and Instagram-reels their traditions don’t slip and their audience continues to grow.”
Harvey Jamison
The clever trick is that demand for the Masters is ever-increasing while the supply (the number of patrons who can actually attend) is never going to change. The gap in-between has been breached by digital.
Jamison makes a striking final point: “Patrons’ phones are banned at Augusta National yet sports fans across the globe want every inch of Augusta National on their screens.”
Who fills the gap? The tournament: “The Masters delivers.”
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The Open For The Ages
Using technology in order to recreate world’s most famous golf moments
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The Open – ‘Best Business Impact’
Sitecore Symposium honoured one of our most prestigious clients, The Open, with the “Best Business Impact” award.
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Successfully delivering with multiple teams
Communication, communication, communication… One simple word, one huge challenge.
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Meet the TEC team at Sitecore Symposium
The forthcoming event will be held at Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, from 4th to 7th of November 2019, you can also see the full agenda here.
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The Open 2019 Scoring Engine
All started during 2018, The R&A was searching for a development agency to create the new real-time Scoring Engine for The 148th Open at Royal Portrush.
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How much are you willing to put into Golf?
“Be where the action is!” – This is what I thought when joining the R&AGolf team that was preparing for the single most important event of the year
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